Lauri B ❤ aka Sunshine! 💙🦋💙

Day 1 of the dog show is over. I was not a rockstar in my first class, Rally Excellent level. I only scored a 73 out of 100. I think a longer walk in the morning might have helped get me ready as I was in the early classes, but it was still dark and baby rottie Kenji took forever to find somewhere to go 💩. I redeemed myself by scoring a 99 out of 100 in the advanced category. But that was only enough for 5th place. When there's a tie it's broken by speed and we're just not the fastest. But 99 made my human awfully happy and I got extra chicken! Kenji was really really good. He scored a 94 out of 100 in both novice b and intermediate rally obedience. There were a few spots where he got distracted but that's to be expected. The lower levels are for dogs that are still learning, and he's definitely the youngest one competing. In intermediate they start adding distractions like a bowl with some treats in it or a toy. He really wanted to go check out the toys but he was a good boy and didn't. Most of his deductions were just slow to respond because he was a little distracted. But his scores were good enough to get a fourth place in intermediate and third in novice. One of the maneuvers he has to perform is doing a circle all the way around his handler in a clockwise direction as she turns around a right corner. Because these levels are done on leash, most people would pass the leash behind their back, but our human doesn't have elastic arms and can't reach that far because of the wheelchair back. The solution is to drop the leash as he goes around her, and then once he gets back on her left hand side to have him pick it up and bring it to her. That makes it a little trickier for him than most dogs but again, he was a total Rockstar! He paused and picked up that leash and then hurried up to get it to her hand before they got to the next sign. Let's not tell Kenji how proud I am of him though. I'm pretty sure his head has grown at least another inch in diameter this past month and it's because his ego is inflating. Tomorrow he has an extra busy day. He's doing a pre novice obedience test first thing in the morning, then he has his novice rally, and intermediate rally. Meanwhile once we get to the showgrounds, I can nap in my crate for a while because I get to go later in the day. But right now, it's the most important time of the day. Supper time. Followed by a well-deserved nap. #LifeOfChesnyy #KenjiWasASuperDog

This is a picture of baby Rottie Kenji COMPLETELY ignoring our human in his pre-novice obedience trial. He was supposed to be attentive and listen. He did not. He was the very first dog in the ring today. That made it hard for him. He would have done better with extra time to just hang out and watch other dogs and get used to how busy it was before he went in the ring. An early morning run would have helped too. We were supposed to go to a park with a tennis court we could have played ball in but Google Maps took us to a senior citizens apartment instead. He did ok in his 2 rally obedience rounds. He was distracted and slow to respond a few times but he did all the required maneuvers. I had an awesome advanced round. The human was thrilled with me. I didn't want Kenji to feel bad about his performance so I made sure my next run was a disaster. 🤣 That's what good siblings do. We found that park tonight and had some off leash zoomies. We're gonna sleep very well. #DogLife

We made it home from the dog show. Things did not go as planned today. Something irritated my eyes so my human pulled me from all my rounds and made me rest. Even I'm not sure exactly what started it. I don't think I rolled in anything I shouldn't, but you never know. If they're still bugging me tomorrow, we'll see if the vet wants to have me come in. Baby Rottie Kenji had an... interesting day. He was extremely distracted by a few things, including the loud speaker, bouncing dachshunds, a growly chow, and his uncle doing retrievals in the next ring. He managed to do all of the required elements but some of them took my longer to do than they should have. However, he still got qualifying scores. They were in the 80s instead of the 90s though. He earned 3 Rally Obedience Intermediate qualifying scores which means he now has his intermediate title. Good job little man. Your head grew again. I think we all need a nap now. This was a long 3 days!